CX Leadership Talks

How do you scale Customer Experience across 17 European affiliates when you cannot lead CX from headquarters alone?  In this episode of CX Leadership Talks, Nienke Bloem speaks with Nicoline Valk, Department Manager Customer Experience at Daikin Europe. Nicoline shares how Daikin moved from a B2B focus towards a B2B2C approach and how she developed a centralized CX program that allows countries to...

You say CX strategy matters. You say stakeholder management matters. You say you need time to think, create impact and move the organization forward. But would your calendar agree? In this episode of CX Leadership Talks, Nienke Bloem CCXP explores one of the most underestimated tools in CX leadership: your calendar. Because especially in Customer Experience, it is very easy to become the lonely kn...

There are four serious working months left in 2026. Your first instinct might be to look at the roadmap, the KPIs and everything that still needs to get done. But what if, before going straight into execution mode, you did something completely different? In this episode of CX Leadership Talks, Nienke Bloem explores the power of dreaming out loud — not only about the future of Customer Experi...

What if we spend too much time in CX fixing what is broken? In this episode of CX Leadership Talks, Nienke Bloem shares three insights from Marcus Buckingham’s book Design Love In and explores what they mean for Customer Experience leaders. This is not just a book review. It is about what the book made her rethink about positive customer moments, purpose in business and the role CX leaders c...

Welcome to a new episode of CX Leadership Talks with Nienke Bloem! Today, we dive into a thought-provoking challenge every CX leader must face: Would they miss you if your CX team disappeared tomorrow? Drawing inspiration from a recent Qualtrics event, Nienke Bloem explores the true business impact of CX teams and introduces the crucial "budget cut test." Are you and your team seen as a must-have...

Welcome to a new episode of CX Leadership Talks, recorded from the sun-soaked island of Texel during an intense European heatwave.     In this special solo episode, Nienke Bloem CCXP dives deep into the ANI model — her new CX leadership philosophy that will transform the way you look at customer experience leadership. 🤩    Discover the three laye...

Welcome to a new episode of CX Leadership Talks with Nienke Bloem. In this episode, Nienke introduces ANI: her new CX leadership philosophy built around three elements every CX leader needs to thrive: Authority, Narrative and Impact. After spending months interviewing CX leaders and reflecting on the future of the profession, she discovered a surprising pattern. Most CX leaders do not struggle wit...

Welcome to a new episode of CX Leadership Talks with Nienke Bloem.  In this episode, we tackle one of the biggest blind spots in CX leadership: stakeholder management.  Because most CX leaders are strong in CX management. They know journey mapping, VoC, dashboards and improvement projects. But influencing senior stakeholders strategically? Building alliances? Creating organizational...

Welcome to a new episode of CX Leadership Talks! The podcast for CX leaders who want to spice up their leadership. In this personal and inspiring solo episode, your host Nienke Bloem CCXP dives into one of the most defining visibility lessons of her career, sparked by an unforgettable encounter with Queen Máxima. Discover how one highly visible moment unexpectedly changed the trajectory of...

Welcome to a new episode of CX Leadership Talks! The podcast for CX leaders who want to spice up their leadership.  In this inspiring episode, your host Nienke Bloem dives into an incredibly valuable conversation with global keynote speaker, educator, and "burger lady" Sally Foley-Lewis. Together, they explore the true power - and challenges - of leading from the middle. Discover why the best is i...

Do you know how to use every presentation to actually move people? Not just inform them or update them, but make them remember, feel something, and take action. Because every time you step into a room, you have that opportunity as a CX leader. To create clarity, build energy, and influence decisions and direction. And yet, most presentations don’t land. They don’t change anything. Not because the...

What does it really take to win four International CX Awards, amongst which three GOLD? In this episode of CX Leadership Talks, Nienke Bloem sits down with Irene van Hoorn, CX Leader of the Year and Brand Experience Transformation Lead at Eneco. Irene shares how she moved from marketing and product roles to building and professionalizing CX as a discipline, and ultimately winning three Gold and on...

In this episode, Nienke Bloem takes you behind the scenes of one of the biggest moments in her speaking career. Standing backstage at the Global Speaker Summit, about to deliver the closing keynote. A moment filled with excitement and doubt. And it led to a powerful realization. Because that exact same feeling shows up for CX leaders every single day. Not on a stage. But in leadership meetings, bo...

In this new episode of CX Leadership Talks Host Nienke Bloem CCXP introduces the CX Leadership Energy Matrix. A simple quadrant tool that helps you decide where to focus your time and energy as a CX leader. The model maps your activities based on two dimensions: business impact and personal energy. By looking at your work through this lens, you can make more strategic choices about where your...

Imposter syndrome does not destroy your competence.  It erodes your authority.  In this episode of CX Leadership Talks, Nienke Bloem dives into the psychology behind imposter syndrome and connects it directly to the three authority dimensions every CX leader needs: Personal, Positional and Relational Authority.  Drawing on research and the widely known model of Dr. Valerie Young, Nienke explores t...

CX leaders are great at content. But CX rarely scales because the message doesn’t. In this episode of CX Leadership Talks, Nienke Bloem dives into why communication is not a soft skill, but a core CX leadership capability. She explores how CX leaders can move from one-off presentations and workshops to a repeatable, multi-channel communication rhythm that creates real organisational impact. This e...

In this episode of CX Leadership Talks, Nienke Bloem is joined by James O’Connor, one of the early architects of customer experience as a professional discipline.  James brings more than 20 years of experience working at the intersection of customer experience, strategy, operations and technology. He was one of the first CX advisors at Forrester, where he worked closely with CX leaders and executi...

This first episode of 2026 is an invitation for CX leaders to pause, reflect and look ahead.  In this episode, Nienke Bloem CCXP explores why CX leadership is entering a new phase and why 2026 asks something different from those leading customer experience in complex organizations. Instead of jumping to tools or quick fixes, she starts with the real challenges CX leaders face today, from lack...

How do you want to lead in 2026?  In this episode of CX Leadership Talks, Nienke Bloem helps CX leaders move from intention to direction. Not by creating a long to-do list, but by making conscious, strategic choices about where to focus.  With 2026 themed as Strategizing CX, this episode is an invitation to slow down, zoom out, and design your year with clarity. Nienke guides you through five must...

Welcome to a brand new episode of the CX Leadership Talks podcast, hosted by Nienke Bloem! In this very special "Reflection edition for 2025”, Nienke Bloem invites you to slow down, look back, and take stock of your year as a CX leader. She guides you through a thoughtful self-audit, encouraging you to pause, journal, and dig deep into five essential areas: impact and results, strategy and vision,...

Welcome to a new episode of CX Leadership Talks! The podcast for CX leaders who want to spice up their leadership.  In this episode, your host Nienke Bloem CCXP connects with Cairo Marsh, founder of Relativ, an experience agency based in Tokyo. Together, they explore why branding alone isn’t enough in today’s world and introduce the powerful concept of “brand being”: how a brand shows up in every...

Welcome to a new episode of CX Leadership Talks! In this episode, Nienke Bloem CCXP takes you to the International CX Awards in London, where she hosted an evening with more than 450 CX professionals from over 50 countries. Across all those conversations, one theme stood out: the real challenge in CX is leadership engagement. Not tools. Not dashboards. But leadership behavior. Nienke shares why so...

Welcome to a brand new episode of CX Leadership Talks!  In this episode, Nienke Bloem CCXP shares a personal story from her time at KPN that completely changed how she looked at leadership. A Valentine’s Day blog, a bold email to the CEO, and one big aha moment led her to realise that real CX leadership starts when we stop judging and start joining.  Too often, CX leaders complain...

Welcome to a brand new episode of CX Leadership Talks!  What if CX leadership was more about heart than KPIs? In this fresh, feel-good episode, your host Nienke Bloem CCXP explores what happens when we swap frameworks and dashboards for belief, curiosity and connection, inspired by none other than Ted Lasso.  From her sunny spot in the south of France, Nienke shares how a cheerful TV coa...

Welcome to a brand new episode of CX Leadership Talks! Too many CX leaders are hired to create change… yet end up playing it safe. Organizations reward dashboards, quick wins, and staying in the background. But as your host: Nienke Bloem reminds her listeners, CX is not about management, it is about leadership.  In this episode of CX Leadership Talks, Nienke shares the five areas where CX leaders...